But the Palm Beach Pit Crew knocked it out without hesitation and without a scratch. It’s always important to find a good and trusted wheel and tire shop when it comes to mounting nice wheels and these guys did a great job.
With our 345/30-19 Michelin Pilot Super Sport mounted on our 19×13 Forgeline VX1-6 wheel, we were ready to install them.
Following the advice in the article How to PROPERLY Select and Size TIRES for PERFORMANCE, this wheel and tire combo falls right in line with the recommendations in that article, which is nice because this is the OEM tire fitment for the car. A proper tire to wheel fitment is important to improve steering response and grip, and makes a car feel more predicable at the limit.
The rear 345/30-19 Michelin Pilot Super Sport dwarfs the 285/35-18 front tire. Most people don’t realize but these Gen-2 Vipers are actually rear-heavy cars. The rearward-biased weight distribution combined with the power and torque, make full use of this massive rear tire to give the Viper quite friendly driving dynamics.
Our old 275/35-18 front tire (left) was a Michelin PS2 “C1” Viper-spec tire was designed for the 2013 Gen-3 Viper. This tire actually used the motorsport-inspired Pilot Sport Cup 1 “R-compounding”. If you read the article Not All Cup 2 Tires are Created the Same, you will understand how drastically different bespoke tires can be made from a construction and compounding standpoint. This “C1” Viper Tire used Cup tire compounding way back in 2003, which I find super cool.
The off-the-shelf PSS was a big step up from the older PS2. However, this Viper tire was no regular off-the-shelf PS2. It will be interesting to see how a newer off-the-shelf 285/35-18 PSS stacks up against a bespoke PS2 designed for the Viper with R-compounding from the Pilot Sport Cup tire.
9 comments
gorgeous wheels and tires. not sure if i missed it being mentioned in the article, but why didn’t you go with the PS4? I love the michelin feel when they are new, but they age and crack SO fast, even in a garaged car in Los Angeles. They dry rot and plasticize within 5 years easily. I know its recommended to get new tires every 6 years or whatever, but its a bit dramatic with Michelin from the sets I’ve interacted with.
The PS4S was not available in the Viper size at the time of the install. The previous “C1” Viper compound was well over 5 years old and did not have dry rot issues, neither have a lot of the PS2 or PSS tires that i’ve personally used.
Damn, so much tread left on that old tire. Do you even drive this car?
It’s not always the wear but the age of the tire that matters. The tires were old and needed replacing; plus the tread was down to the wear marks and the outer shoulders were worn completely; close to cords, and would not last much longer on track.
Yeah, because we know what happens when a Viper get a blowout at high speed…
Hey, great DIY writeup. Thanks. Are you going to continue on that project any further?
So much left 😉 brake distribution, steering cooler, track testing … what about a carbon drive shaft and other cool stuff to bring that thing back into competition to today’s cars?!
Hey! I’ve just finished reading all the 16 parts of your Viper story and I must say I’m really impressed with the quality of material (all the measurements before-after and etc). Keep it up! Can’t wait to read the next parts.
Thank you for the kind words!
I just bought a 2002 RT/10, and I have greatly enjoyed these articles, especially with how you reference all years of the 2nd gen cars, so the information is very relevant to me. I also have a set of VX1’s on my car. The previous owner set it up for track use, which I won’t be doing regularly myself. I look forward to seeing how you upgrade the brakes! Will you invest in headers or any additional work to the motor? I would love to upgrade my cam to get that lumpy 708 idle.